The present invention is related to the playing of a game of chance or sweepstake over the Internet, and more particularly to the random selection (drawing) of a winner among those who log onto a web site.
At the present time there are many types of games of chance in which a winner is selected using a random process. For example, in a state-sponsored lottery or sweepstake a person buys a lottery ticket and selects a series of numbers, i.e., he selects 5 or 6 numbers with each number being from 1 to 50. A series of numbers is then derived by a random process, such as by dropping numbered ping-pong balls.
Various games of chance are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,024,641; 6,017,032; 5,938,200; 5,855,369; 5,791,991; 4,721,309; 4,689,742 and 4,494,197.
A xe2x80x9cdrawingxe2x80x9d is a similar type of game, except the numbers are assigned to the players and not selected. For example, all the persons at a concert are told to hold on to their ticket stubs. The stubs are numbered. At the end of the concert a number is randomly selected and the person with the ticket stub holding that number wins a prize.
This general idea, of picking a winner at random, has been used by various Internet web sites in order to attract viewers. In one example, a web site, which is the xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d, advertises that it will give cash prizes to winners, which are its xe2x80x9cclientsxe2x80x9d. The prize may be an award of $1000 each day. The person logs on to the web site to enter the contest. The web site derives revenue from selling advertisements which are displayed to viewers who log on to its site. The winners, presumably, are selected by some random process.
This type of game is a xe2x80x9cdrawingxe2x80x9d, as distinct from a xe2x80x9clotteryxe2x80x9d, since the user does not purchase a ticket. In general a lottery, in which the user pays to enter the game, may be illegal in various states of the United States of America and in some foreign countries. In New York State, the Penal Law Section 225 defines xe2x80x9cGamblingxe2x80x9d as when xe2x80x9cA person . . . stakes or risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest or chance or a future continent event . . . xe2x80x9d
Those Internet drawings, in which the users log on and obtain a chance of winning, without paying to enter, may not be xe2x80x9cgamblingxe2x80x9d and may therefore be legal.
Also, at the present time, persons who purchase goods and services, such as restaurant meals, gasoline, grocery items, clothing, movie theater tickets, etc., generally receive a receipt for their purchase. Such receipts are almost always given when the items are purchased using a credit card. The receipt generally has the date and very often has the time (hour and minute) that the receipt is printed. Many receipts also display the ZIP (postal) code of the establishment. Some people save such receipts for their records, but many others throw them away. In addition, other types of paper documents are printed with a time and date, including parking tickets, ATM receipts, and bank deposit receipts.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method is provided in which customer receipts may be used in a legal prize-awarding drawing on the Internet.
In this invention, a user (client computer or xe2x80x9cclientxe2x80x9d) will log onto a special web site of a server computer (xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d) devoted to the drawing, called herein xe2x80x9cdrawing sitexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cweb drawing sitexe2x80x9d.
The drawing site will display a page having blank spaces which are to be filled in by the user. These blank spaces call for the identification of a user""s receipt by its date, time and ZIP code. The term xe2x80x9creceiptxe2x80x9d means any paper slip having a time and date, including parking tickets, ATM receipts, etc. The receipt may be for any purchase, from any vendor, and may be for any day, within a selected limit, i.e. the most recent 30 days.
This activity is generally legal since it does not require any purchase by, or money from, the users (xe2x80x9cplayersxe2x80x9d). It is not xe2x80x9cgamblingxe2x80x9d since the player does not stake or risk anything of value. It is not a xe2x80x9clotteryxe2x80x9d since the players do not pay something of value for chances represented by numbers.
In some cases, receipts which are issued have a date, but not the time. In that case, preferably a time is assigned by the drawing web site based upon the exact time the user logs onto the site. Alternatively, the user may be asked to select a time. The drawing web site has a box (blank) to be filled in by the user with a ZIP (postal) code. Preferably it is the ZIP code shown on the receipt. If there is no ZIP code used on the receipt, the user may use his/her home or office ZIP code. If the user does not enter a ZIP code, or if the user is in a foreign country, the drawing web site automatically assigns a ZIP code (5-digit number) to the user. Since there are 1440 minutes a day and 10,080 minutes a week, the use of a 5-digit ZIP code (with about 74,000 U.S. ZIP codes) gives odds of 1 in about 746 million. To reduce the odds, the drawing web site can use only a few of the digits (initial or terminal) of the ZIP code.
When the user logs on to the drawing web site, for the first time, he/she is asked to enter either the user""s e-mail address or the user""s name and postal address, i.e. registration. The drawing web site retains a record of the user""s URL and his/her return address (e-mail or name/postal address). The user need not enter that information again, because the drawing web site automatically receives and records the user""s UAL each time the user logs on to that site.
At selected times the drawing web site selects one, or more, winners. Such selection may be made, for example, on a daily, weekly, monthly and/or yearly basis. Preferably, the client""s receipt information and address (xe2x80x9centry informationxe2x80x9d) is saved, so that the saved entry is automatically entered into the weekly and/or yearly drawingxe2x80x94even though it has lost a daily drawing.
The selection is made by a random process, i.e. a random number generator. The drawing web site knows the Internet address of the winners since it saves the incoming addresses of all users until the winners are selected.
The drawing web site obtains its revenue from selling advertising space on its web site. It does not collect a fee from the users, so it is not running a lottery or an illegal gambling enterprise.